Japan recruits elderly carers

The Japanese government is to start recruiting the first Cambodian trainees to care for elderly people in Japan.

Labour Ministry officials met with the International Trade Practitioners Association of Japan yesterday to discuss the programme, which could see thousands of workers sent to the country.

Shinya Chiba, chief director of the International Human Resource Business Cooperative, said he had asked the Labour Minister to help send thousands of Cambodians to work in elderly care in his country.

“We need thousands of Cambodian trainees each year for this job, but right now we cannot put an exact figure on it,” he said.

Mr Shinya said he planned to cooperate with Japanese language centres to train workers in Japanese and other skills before sending them to the country.

“This is the first recruitment of Cambodian trainees to care for elderly people in Japan. Trainees from other countries already work in this sector,” Mr Shinya said.

“We decided we need more Cambodian trainees because Cambodian people and Japanese people have a similar way of living and Cambodian people are friendly and gentle with smiling faces.”

A new centre in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district will launch in April 2018 to train Cambodians for the jobs.

Mr Shinya could not say when the first trainees will arrive in the country.

Candidates for the work must be aged between 18 and 45. The trainees will receive the same salary as Japanese carers, which is $1,800 a month for a period of three years.

“This association wants between 20,000 and 30,000 Cambodian trainees, which is a good opportunity,” he said. “There are currently about 5,000 Cambodians in Japan working in agriculture, industry and construction.”

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